Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-23
Some Disastrous Amusements Bring
Down Death Upon the Heads of
Those Who Practice Them.
There is LaWfnL Use Of the World as
Well as an Unlawful abuse OF
lis Pleasures.
a Writ OF 81 sctment Served Upon all Sin
full and Polluted squatters on the Do.
main CT Earthly PIeagure.
RKCREATIoNs GOOD AND BAD,

|
The hill of Zion yields
thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets;
The Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage, D. D.,
preached on "Recreations Good and
Bad" taking two texts: 1 Corinthians,
chapter Z, verse 81: "They that use this
word, as not abusing it," and Judges,
chapter Is, verse %: "And it came to
pass, when their hearts were merry, that
they said, call for Samson, that he may
make US sport. And they called for
Samson out of the prison house; and he
made them sport" DR.. Telmege SAID:
We ere entering the gsyest season OF
the yecr. The winter opens before US the
gates Of @ thousand smusements, some Of
them good and come bad. One Of my
texts will show you thst amusements
may be destructive, my other text will
show you that amusements may be under
the Divine blessing and direction.
There were 5000 people assembled il
the temple OF Dagon. They had come to
make sport Of eyeIess Samson. They
were all resdy for the entertainment.
They began to clap and pound, impatient
for the amusement to begin, and they
cried, "Fetch him out. Fetch him outn'
Yonder l see the blind old giant coming,
led by the hand of 8 child into the very
midst of the temple. At his first appear
ance there goes up shout OF laughter
and derision. The bli5d old giant pre-
tends he is tired, aud wants to rest him
self against the pillars Of the house; so he
says to the lad who leads him,
EgShnry -uhorn 10
The lad does SO. Then the strong man
puts his right hand On one pillar and his
left hsnd on enother pillar, and, with the
mightiest push that mortal ever made,
throws himself forward until the whole
house comes down in thunderous crash,
grinding the audience like grapes in O
~ine-press. sand so it came TO pass,
when their hearts were merry, that they
said, Call for Samson, that he may mSke
Us sport. And they called for Samson out
Of the prison house; and ne made them
sport"
In other words: There are emusements
that are destructive, and bring down
DISASTER AND DEATH
upon the heads of those who practice
them. While they laugh and cheer, they
die. The 5000 who persisted that Gay in
GAIA are as nothing compared with the
tens of thousands who have been de-
sgroyed by sinful amusements.
But the other text have read implies
that there is lawful use of the world as
well as an unlawful abuse Of it, and the
difference between the man Christian end
the man unChristian is that in the former
case the man masters the world, while Ia
the latter case the world masters him.
For whom did God make this grand and
beautiful world? For whom this wonder
full expenditure of color, this graceful
ness of line, this mosaic of the ground,
this fresco OF the sky, this glowing fruit
age of orchard and vineyard, this full
orchestra of the tempest, in which
the tree branches flute, and the
winds trumpet, and the thunders drum,
and all the splendors of earth and eky
come clashing their cymbals? For whom
did God spring the arched bridge Of COL
ors resting upon buttresses of broken
storm cloud? For whom did he gather
the upholstery Of fire around the window
of the setting sun? For oil men, but
more especially for his own dear chill
dren.
If you build large MANSION and spread
a great feast efteT it to celebrate the
completion OF the structure, do you allow
strangers to come in and occupy the
place while you thrust your own children
in the kitchen or the barn or the fields?
sob, no." you ssY, 81 am very glad to
see strangers in my mansion, but my own
sons and daughters shall have the first
right there" Now God has built this
grand mansion of world, and he has
spread q glorious fesst in it; and while
those who are strangers to His grace may
come in, think that God especially in
tends'to give the advantage to His own
children, those who are 5he sons and the
daughters Of the Lord Almighty, those
who through grace can look up and say,
"Abba, Father" You ccnDot make me
believe that God gives more advantages to
the world than He gives to the church
bought by his own blood. If, therefore,
people Of the world have looked with do
lorous sympathy upon those VINO make
profession of religion, and have said:
"Those new converts are going down
into privstion and into hardship. Why
did not they terfy little longer
in the world, and have some OF its emf JOY
ments and amusements and recreations?"
say to such men of the world, f'You are,
SIt6lly mlcbokSuS aNu uCIolC ECU
through T will show that those people who
stay out of the kingdom of God have the
hardships and self-denisls, w lie those
who come in have the joys and the satis-
factions.
This morning, in the name Of the King
of heaven and earth, 1 serve writ OF
ejectment upon all the sinful and pollut-
ed who have squstted on the domain of
earthly pleasure as though it belonged to
them, while claim, in behalf Of the good
and the pure and the true, the eternal in
heritance which God has given them.
Hitherto, Christian philanthropists,
clerical and lay, have busted themselves
chiefly in denounciDg sinful recrestions;
but feel we have no right to stand before
men and women in whose hearts there is
a desire for recreation amounting to pos
tive necessity, denounclng this and that
and the other thing, when we do rot pro-
pose to give them something better. God
helping me this morning, aud with refer
eDce to my last account, I shall enter upon
q sphere not usual IN sermoniZlpg, but
subject which 1 think ought to be pre-
sented at this time. propose now TO lay
before you some of the recreations which
are not only innocent, but positively help
full aud advantageous.
In the first place, / commend. among
indoor recreations, music, vocal and in
Among the first things Gre
sted was the bird, so that the earth might
have music at the start. This world,
which began with